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Beok> IZ^Uo 



MEMORIAL ADDRESSES 



LIFE AND CHARACTER 



Reuben Ellwood, 

(A KEPEESENTATIVE FROM ILLINOIS). 



DELIVERED IN THE 



HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND IN THE SENATE, 



U.S. FORTY NINTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION. 



PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF CONGRESS. 



WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 
1886. 






JOINT RESOLUTION to print twelve thousand five hundred copies of the eulogies ou 
Reuben EUwood, late a Representative in Congress. 

Resolved by the Senate and Uoitse of Representatives of the Unitid States of Amer- 
ica in Congress assembled. That there be printed of the eulogies delivered in Con- 
gress upon the late Reuben EUwood, a Representative-elect in tlie Forty-ninth 
Congress from the State of Illinois, twelve thousand five hundred copies, of which 
three thousand copies sliall be for the use of the Senate and nine thousand five 
hundred for the use of the House of Representatives ; and the Secretary of the 
Treasury be, and he is hereby, directed to have printed a portrait of the said 
Reuben Ellwood, to accompany said eulogies; and for the purpose of engraving 
and printing said portrait the sum of five hundred dollars, or so much thereof as 
may be necessary, is hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not 
otherwise appropriated. 

Approved March 13, 1886. 
2 

In Exchange 
Amur. Ant. Soo. 

26 Jl 1907 



ANNOUNCEMENT 

OF THE 

Death of Reuben Ellwood. 



In the House or Representatives, 

December 8, 18S5. 

Mr. Hopkins. Mr. Speaker, I rise to perform the sad duty of an- 
nouncing to the House the death of my predecessor, Hon. Reuben 
Ellwood, late a member of this House from the State of Ilhnois, 
who died at his home in the city of Sycamore on the ist day of July 
last. I desire also to express in some slight degree the profound sor- 
row of the people of the Fifth district of the State of Illinois in the 
death of their able and distinguished Representative. 

I ask to have read the resolutions which I send to the desk, and 
beg leave to state that at some future and more convenient time the 
House will be called upon to further consider them and to accord to 
members the privilege of expressing the esteem in which the memory 
of the deceased is held. 

The Clerk read as follows : 

Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. 
Rrueen Ei.lwood, late a member of this House from the State of Ilhnois. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted by the Clerk of (he 
House to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be directed to communicate a copy of these proceedings 
to the Senate, and 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to tlie memory of the deceased this 
House do now adjourn. 

The Speaker. The gentleman from Illinois [Mr. Hopkins] asks 
that the resolutions just read lie on the table for the present, and 
states that he will request the House at some future time to designate 



4 I'UOCKEEVIXGS IN THE HOUSE. 

a day for their consideration. If there be no objection, that course- 
will be pursued as to the resolutions proper. The last resolution 
proposes that the House do now adjourn : and the question is upon 
that motion. 

The motion was agreed to; and accordingly the House adjourned. 



In the House of Representatives, 

jfanuary 28, 1886. 
Mr. Hopkins. Mr. Speaker, this is the hour fixed by the order of 
the House for considering the resolutions now pending before this 
body relating to the death of my predecessor, Hon. Reuben Ell- 
wood ; and I ask for their reading. 
The Clerk read as follows: 

Resolved, That this House has he.ird with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. 
Reuben Ellwood, late a member of this House from the State of Illinois. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted by the Clerk of the 
House to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be directed to communicate a copy of these proceed- 
ings to the Senate ; and 

Resolved, That as a further mark of respect to the men\ory of the deceased this 
House do now adjourn. 




ADDRESSES 



Death of Reuben Ellwood. 



Address of Mr. Hopkins, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker, since the election of the members of this House to the 
Forty-ninth Congress the messenger of death has visited their num- 
ber and taken one from among them in the person of my lamented 
predecessor, Hon. Reuben Ellwood. 

In the early hours of the morning, on the ist day of July, 1885, 
after a long and painful struggle with that grim destroyer. Death, he 
yielded to his fate, acknowledged his conqueror, and peacefully and 
quietly as a sleeping babe passed over "the dark waters which roll 
round all the world." In his death the people of the fifth district of 
Illinois have lost a firm friend, a wise and conscientious legislator, an 
upright citizen, and an open-hearted, generous man. 

Mr. Ellwood was born in Minden, Montgomery County, New 
York, February 17, 7821. His parents were Abraham and Sarah 
(De Long) Ellwood. They were poor, and with a large family of 
children to support, the subject of my remarks was early in life thrown 
upon his own resources for a livelihood. 

In his boyhood the magnificent common-school system, which is 
the glory of the State he had the honor in part to represent on this 
floor, and which to-day opens the avenues to educational distinction 
in his native State to the plowman's son as well as the millionaire's, 
was unknovvn. The teacher who could explain the mysteries of mul- 
tiplication and division, solve a problem in simple fractions, and work 



h LIFE AND Cir.trtJCTEl! OF liEVBFX ELLWOOD. 

to tlie rule of three, was regarded as eminently well qualified to in- 
struct the youth of that day. 

Mr. Ellwood easily mastered these rudiments of an education, 
and, being possessed of a strong, healthy body and vigorous, restless 
mind, at the early age of fifteen years longingly turned his gaze to- 
ward the broad and beautiful prairies of Illinois as opening a better 
field for his ambition. 

In US37, before he had attained his sixteenth birthday, he made 
the journey from his home in New York to De Kalb County, Illinois. 

In these days of the steam-engine, the telegraph, and palace coaches 
such a journey seems but a slight undertaking. Not so then, how- 
ever. The " covered wagon " was the passenger coach of that day, 
and with such a conveyance he made this journey. 

There is an clement of heroism in the brave and fearless manner in 
which at this age he took up the burdens of life, turned his back reso- 
lutely upon all the endearing scenes of childhood, and, with the bless- 
ings of his father and mother, joined the number who have converted 
the great prairies of that then far-off Western State into fruitful fields 
and dotted them all over with beautiful villages and thriving cities. 
The first twelve months he passed in Illinois were as a farm-hand for 
one William Miller, of Kingston, De Kalb County. His second year 
there he was engaged in building a dam across Fox River, at Geneva, 
in the adjoining county of Kane. We next find him at work in a 
brick-yard in what is now the city of Rockford. He entered a claim 
for one hundred and sixty acres of land near Sycamore, in De Kalb 
County, and continued in various kinds of manual labor for about 
four years. At the end of this period, in somewhat impaired health, 
he returned to New York. His experience in the West and among 
men had taught him the importance of a more thorough education, 
and shortly after his return home he became a student of Cherry 
Valley Academy, which at that time was one of the best educational 
institutions of its kind in that part of the State. He never graduated. 
.After a short time at that academy he went to ('.len\ illc, Schenectady 



ADDRESS OF MR. nOPEIh^S, OF ILLINOIS. 7 

County, and engaged first in the mill and lumber trade ; then in the 
cultivation of broom-corn and the manufacture of brooms. He con- 
tinued in this business for seven or eight years, and was so successful 
that at one time he employed as many as one hundred and thirty men. 

Mr. Ellwood returned to Illinois in 1857, and from that time until 
his death was closely indentified with the material interests of the city 
and county in which he lived. He engaged for a time in the hard- 
ware trade in Sycamore, and in connection with that dealt in farm 
machinery. His quick and comprehensive mind reathly detected 
incompleteness and imperfection in these machines for the purposes 
for which they were designed, and being of an ingenious turn of mind 
he invented, patented, and applied to them various devices and im- 
provements. This naturally led him into the manufacture of ma- 
chines and different kinds of farm implements. For many years 
before his death he was interested in the largest manufactories in De 
Kalb County. As a business man he had few equals and no superiors 
in the section in which he lived. It would be uninteresting to go into 
the details of his business career and recite the different enterprises 
in which he was engaged during the various periods of his lite and 
which affected the material prosperity of the beautiful city of Syca- 
more, his home for more than a quarter of a century. In his death the 
people who knew him all these years have met with a great if not 
irreparable loss. 

Mr. Ellwood was married in 1849 to Miss Eleanor Vedder, of Sche- 
nectady. Six children blessed this union. His married life was a fort- 
unate and happy one. And now the widow and four of these children 
live to mourn the loss of a kind and faithful husband, a loving and in- 
dulgent father. 

Though not an educated man in the books, he was a keen and close 
observer of men, and had what no schools can give — the very genius of 
common sense. It was this that made him the successful business man 
that he was, in spite of his indifferent education. The name of Ell- 
wood is as closely interwoven in the history of De Kalb County and 



H ITFE AXD CIJAIIACTER OF IlEVIiEy ELUVOOD. 

its development and prosperity as that of any family that ever lived 
within the limits of its rich territory. He and his brothers and sisters 
formed a most remarkable family. There were seven boys and four 
girls, all, as you saw Mr. Ellwood on this floor, large and robust. Five 
of his brothers settled with him in De Kalb County — all big-framed 
and big-brained men. 

Together they formed a most conspicuous group, and Reuben 
Ellwood was their recognized and acknowledged leader. But there 
was a warm and fraternal t'eelLng which always united them, the re- 
membrance of whii h must now be a source of comfort to the sur- 
vivors as they think of him « horn they delighted to honor sleeping 
his quiet sleep of death. 

Mr. Ei.LwooD from his earliest years took a deep mterest in poli- 
tics. His first exjjerience in office was that of representative in the 
New York Assembly in 1851. His sympathies and every a.spiration 
of his intense nature were in accord with those principles of human 
liberty which were promulgated to the country in the formation of the 
Republican party. He was sent as a delegate to the Republican 
convention at Philadelphia at 1856 which nominated Fremont, and 
from that day to the close of his busy life was a firm and enthusiastic 
supporter of that party. He was not an office-seeker, but ever ready 
and willing to help a friend. Whenever he appeared in political gath- 
erings his born leadership was felt and acknowledged. 

I remember attending a State convention held in Springfield, 111., 
some years since, in which he was a delegate from De Kalb County. 
He came to the convention in the interest of a fellow-townsman who 
wished to be nominated for clerk of the supreme court. A number 
of candidates were ambitious for the same position, and when the 
delegates from the different parts of the State were assembled it 
looked very doubtful as to whether Mr. Ellwood's candidate would 
receive the nomination It was at that critical moment in such con- 
ventions when natural leadership asserts itself that Mr. Ei.i.wooD rose 
to his feet and in a five-minute speech, which I think I have never 



ADDIiESS OF MR. HOPKINS, OF ILLINOIS. 9 

heard surpassed for force and eloquence, shattered all opposition and 
triumphantly carried the nomination for his friend. 

As advancing years began to remind him of the approach of old 
age he had an ambition to round out a successful business career with 
a few terms in Congress. That ambition was gratified by the votes 
of the people of his district in 1882. So well had he performed the 
duties of this new position that in 1884 he was renominated without 
opposition and was re-elected by largely increased majorities in all 
the counties of his district. What his services were here and how he 
was regarded by his associates I leave for those to tell who had the 
honor to serve with him in the Forty-eighth Congress. 

In private life he was just, temperate, and faithful to all his obliga- 
tions. He was a good neighbor and a kind friend. In his domestic 
relations he was what makes home a heaven. He had the courage 
of his convictions, and like all men of that mentality had his op- 
ponents and detractors. But the grave buries all differences and 
seals the lips of defamers. His last sickness and his death fully dem- 
onstrated the strong traits of his character. He watched t!ie pro- 
gress of his disease with a keen and intelligent interest and courage- 
ously fought its advancement ; but when he became convinced that 
his end was near, obeying the divine injunction, he put his house in 
order and awaited his final dissolution with firmness. 

Death had no terrors for him. And as his devoted brothers and 
sisters and weeping wife and children pressed around iiis bed to 
catch the last intelligent words of the dying man, with a long and 
steadfast look into the great future he whispered back the cheering 
words, "It is all right; it is all right." Mr. Speaker, so lived and 
died a man whom the people of the fifth district of Illinois will long 
remember and honor. 



10 T.IFE AXD CUJliACTEIi OF REUBEN ELLWOOP. 



Address of Mr. HENDERSON, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker, it was not my good fortune to have known the late 
Reuben Ellwood, member-elect of this body, personally until after 
his election as a member of the Forty-eighth Congress. And yet, 
with his kindly and generous nature, our first meeting seemed to be 
the meeting of old-time acquaintances and friends, and I very soon 
learned to respect and love him for his many noble and manly qual- 
ities. 

But, Mr. Speaker, while I did not know Mr. Ellwood personally 
before we met as Representatives in Congress from our State, he was 
not unknown to me by reputation ; and I feel justified in saying that 
he was not only a man of high character and standing, but he was 
cne of the foremost citizens of the community in which, for so many 
years, he resided ; and although he is dead, the workmanship of his 
hands and of his brains remains to remind him neighbors and friends 
of his active, useful life. Probably no other man had done more to 
build up and promote the prosperity of the city and county in which 
he lived and died than Reuben Ellwood, and I am sure the death 
of no other citizen would have been more deeply dei)lored than his 
by the people generally at his own home and wliere he had expended 
the best energies of his life. 

Mr. Ellwood came first to De Kalb County, Illinois, when a jjoor 
boy, at but fifteen or sixteen years of age, and settled near the present 
city of Sycamore, before it had even been laid out as a village. But 
after a few years, in which he worked as a laborer on a farm and in 
various othe roccupalions, he returned to New York, his native State. 
There he improved his education, engaged in active business, served 
a term as a member of the State Legislature, and in the year 1857 re- 
turned to De Kalb County, Illinois, and located permanently in Syca- 
more, then but a small village. Being much better equipped than 
he was before, he entered at once upon a life of great activity and 



ADDRESS OF ME. HENDERSON, OF ILLINOIS. 11 

usefulness, and by his integrity, his ability, and untiring industry and 
energy rose to the high and honorable position which as a private 
citizen and public servant he occupied at the time of his decease. 

Mr. Ellwood was eminently a self-made man, and achieved his 
own success in life by integrity of purpose and fidelity to duty. We 
can well commend his life and character as a noble example of what, 
under the beneficence of our free institutions, can be accomplished 
by pluck and energy. 

I have been much interested in hearing from his own lips some ac- 
count of his earlier struggles. But in the last year of his life he was 
not free from trials. He suffered from some business adversities which 
overtook him, and perhaps from the general depression in the manu- 
facturing interests of the country in which he was engaged, employ- 
ing as he did a large number of men and a large amount of capi- 
tal. And I remember well how anxious he was to preserve the integ- 
rity of his business character, and how he struggled to prevent the ac- 
cumulations of his active, busy life from being swept away. It kept 
him away from his public duties here much of the time during the 
second session of the Forty-eighth Congress, and from his letters to 
me I know how deeply he regretted his absence, and how anxious he 
was that the interests of his constituents should not be neglected on 
account of such absence. 

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Ellwood was not only an honorable man in his 
private life and business aftairs, but he was a broad-minded, public- 
spirited, patriotic citizen. He loved his country and the community in 
which he lived and died with an earnest devotion; was proud of 
their growth and prosperity, and took a deep interest in all that 
would in his judgment promote the public welfare. As a Repre- 
sentative in Congress he discharged his duties intelligently and faith- 
fully ; and, I think, was especially attentive to the wants and interests 
of his own immediate constituents. He, being a new member, took 
no prominent part in the discussions of the House, but kept well posted 
in its proceedings, and had an intelligent understanding of the ques- 



12 LIFE AXn Cn.lIlACTEIi OF UEUBES El.LWOOD. 

tions brought before it for consideration and determination. In his 
death his constituents and the country lost an able, faithful, and patri- 
otic representative in this body. 

Mr. Speaker, when the Forty-eighth Congress closed on the 4t.h of 
March last, Reuben Ellwood was apparently in robust health and 
vigor, and gave promise of as long life as any of us. But he has ful- 
filled the law of our nature, and has passed away from earth forever. 
His death was a shock as well as a surprise to me, and 1 deeply de- 
plored it, for I entertained high respect for him and for his many 
virtues and his sterling character. 

The words we speak here, Mr. Speaker, in memory of our departed 
colleagues and friends may be but little heeded, but it is well lor us to 
pause for a few moments in our proceedings to pay tribute to a faith- 
ful Representative and public servant and to extend our heartfelt 
sympathy to his widow and fatherless children in their great bereave- 
ment. 

And while at this hour we honor the memory of my departed friend 
and colleague, Reuben Ellwood, and remember in sympathy his 
family, let us not forget the name of Joseph Rankin, another of our 
number who has been taken from us, and who to-day has been laid 
auav at rest in his Wisconsin home. Peace to his memor_\ also; and 
I trust all our hearts will go out in tender sympathy for his bereaved 
widow and fatherless children left in their desolation. In concluding 
this brief tribute of respect to the memory of a departed friend and 
colleague for whom I cherished a very high regard, I will say that 
these lessons of our mortality have been frequently brought home to 
us since I have been a member of this body ; and while we may not 
heed the words uttered here on these memorial occasions, it would 
be well for us to heed the lessons themselves, and let them so aft'ect 
our minds and hearts as to lead us to nobler purposes in life. 



ADDRESS OF AIM. TILLMAN, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 13 



Address of Mr. Tillman, of South Carolina. 

Mr. Speaker, I cannot permit this melancholy occasion to pass 
without delivering my humble but sincere tribute to the worth of our 
late associate, Reuben Ellwood. 

I never knew him until we met in this Hall at the first session of 
the Forty-eighth Congress, but long before that Congress expired I 
had learned to admire and respect his manly qualities of head and 
heart. 

We served upon the same Committee on Claims in that Congress, 
and just as it has been aptly said that the army in time of war is the 
best place in the world to find out a man's real character, so there is 
no better place in time of peace to discover a Congressman's true ca- 
pacity and principles than on the Committee of Claims in this body. 

In addition to passing upon hundreds of honest demands on the 
Government, that committee has to investigate thousands of conspira- 
cies against the Treasury, suggested by fraud aud supported by per- 
jury. So onerous are the duties of tlie committee, that its faithful 
members are kept busy examining facts, or studying law all the while 
till the last day of the session, or listening to the prayerful importuni- 
ties of claimants night and day. Then, too, the labors of the com- 
mittee are like those of Sisyphus, in that a very large majority of the 
claims have to be gone over anew Congress after Congress, because 
this House has not the time to adjudicate them. 

The man who can faithfully undergo such tread-mill service as this 
proves what sort of timber he is made of Yet Mr. Ellwood stood 
the test without shirking any of the thankless petty drudgery. He 
always cheerfully took charge of his quota of cases for private inves- 
tigation, and, except when unavoidably absent from sickness or real, 
not feigned business, he promptly att:'nde(l every one of the numer- 
ous meetings of the committee to discuss and decide upon a report 
in each case. 



14 LIFE AM) vn.injCTJCIi OF UEVBEN ELUVOOD. 

It was at these meetings of the whole committee that Mr. Ell- 
wood indehbly impressed himself upon his colleagues. His sound 
judgment, keen intelligence, high sense of justice, scorn of everything 
mean, as well as his moral courage, stood out in bold relief, proclaim- 
ing him every inch a man. 

On several of these occasions when there was hot division in the 
committee on the merits of the pending claim I have heard him de- 
liver as fine bursts of impromptu eloquence and logic as 1 ever listened 
to. Although no lawyer, he was well versed in the philosophy of eth- 
ics, and he was a profound judge of human nature. " Common sense 
and justice" were his favorite " legal authorities," as they are with all 
strong-minded self-taught men, and he often quoted them in the com- 
mittee-room with telling effect. He likewise always presented his 
views with exceeding great modesty, which gave them additional 
weight. Remembering how successfully he generally maintained his 
positions in the committee, I asked him once why he did not talk to 
the House in the same way, to which he replied, "The House chills 
me" — a very unusual admission for a self made man, because such 
men have to encounter and overcome so many obstacless in life that 
as a rule they are both rough and self-asserting m any presence. 

Mr. Kllwooi) was a massive and robust man physically, mentally, 
and piorally. There was nothing small about him. He was a very 
companionable person withal, and we frequently chatted about men 
and measures. It was in these pleasant conversations that I gath- 
ered many facts and incidents of his career that explained the secret 
of his success. It was poverty, pluck, aiul (jrinciple that developed 
him into such a splendid specimen of a self made Americaii sovereign. 
His ])arents were poor, and as they had eleven children they could 
not do much for him, so he had to do for himself, which was rather 
a blessing than a misfortune, because poverty gives a strong boy his 
best training by inuring him to hardships and self-denial, as well as 
by whipjjing and spurring him to do his best on all occasions, while 
wealth tempts lo indulgence, idleness, and dissi|)alion. 



ADDRESS OF MR. TILLMAN, OF SOUTH CAROLINA. 15 

It is for this reason that where one young man of fortune makes 
his mark in the world a hundred poor ones do it. 

Young Ellwood, while a mere boy, comprehending that he had 
to push his own way through the world, struck out from his native 
State, New York, for the mighty West in search of opportunity, 
which he found in the grand Commonwealth of Illinois, where he did 
not wait, as do so many young men of the Micawber stripe, for 
something to turn up, but he diligently set to work to make it turn 
up by doing the first honest job he could find No matter whether 
it was following the plow, driving an ox-cart, splitting rails, molding 
brick, or rolling dirt in a wheelbarrow, he was ever ready to make his 
luck. After having thus toiled five or six years and accumulated the 
necessary funds, feehng the want of a better education, he returned 
to the Empire State to seek knowledge as earnestly as he had pur- 
sued the means to pay for it. 

Upon the completion of his studies he was so well equipped with 
good habits, good principles, and high intelligence that he could not 
fail to win in the battle of life, especially as he soon after acquired 
a strong ally in a noble wife, and as he was also zealous, candid, and 
public-spirited, as well as of a magnetic temperament, no one ought 
to be surprised at his splendid success in business as well as in poli- 
tics, both in his native and adopted State. 

In politics he was an uncompromising Republican, but not so much 
in a factional or party sense as in being an unyielding champion of 
equal rights, privileges, and burdens for the whole human race. I 
heard him remark more than once that from his very boyhood he had 
been bitterly opposed to African slavery, for the establishment of 
which in this country primarily the North was as much to blame as 
the South; but now that the hated institution had been abolished by 
war, he was for healing the wounds of civil strife and reuniting the 
sections in fraternal relations; said that he acted with the Republican 
party from habit, because he had belonged to it all his life on account 
of its general principles and policy, but that he did not approve of 
several of its extreme measures and tenets. 



16 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF REUBEN ELLWOOD. 

It was these liberal sentiments, together with his sociality, heavi- 
ness, and fidelity to his Congressional duties, as well as an unmis- 
takable liking for myself, that irresistibly drew me toward him, and 
caused me to watch with peculiar solicitude the rapid inroads that 
the fell disease which finally carried him off was perceptibly making 
upon his powerful constitution. On one occasion, near the close of 
the last Congress, when he had just arisen from an excruciating at- 
tack of his incurable malady, he spoke feelingly, yet calmly, of his 
approaching end. I tried to encourage hope, for which he thanked 
me, but, sadly shaking his head, said it was no use, as his judgment 
told him he could not last long, although he might recover from two 
or three more paroxysms. He alluded touchingly to his happy home 
and other endearments that made him crave to live, but said fate was 
against him. Still, conscious of the rectitude of his purposes and 
actions in the past, and believing that if one's life is right his end can 
not be wrong, his brave, patient resignation seemed to say : 

A man cm die but oiicc — we owe (iod a death. 

.■\s he has left his children an honored name to preserve, and left 
them, as well as his countrymen, a model example to imitate, he has 
not lived in vain. 

Let us all strive to do likewise. 



Address of Mr. HiTT, of Illinois. 

Last winter I sat througii months of labor here near Reuben Eli.- 
wooD, that broad-shouldered, strong-voiced, marked man who has 
been taken away. We represented adjoining districts and similar in- 
terests, and entertained kindred views on almost every question dis- 
cussed in this body. We consulted together almost daily about the 
interests of our constituents and on all the topics that would arise in 
two years of daily intercourse. Sometimes he talked of his past lite, 
friendships, struggles, and personal history, for he was one of those 
positive characters whose strong individiiaiiiv had marked his career 



ADDRESS OF MR. HITT, OF ILLINOIS. 17 

all through life with instructive interest ; and he was a delightful com- 
panion. 

I speak of him to-day with the sensibility of a friend, with the 
sorrow of one who has lost a friend, with that appreciation of his 
character and life which comes from having seen a part of his life and 
having talked often with him of his past. His was a nature made for 
action, trained from the beginning to strong endeavor. He was one 
of those to whom hearty exertion was healthy, joyous existence — and 
his life was all continuous, active, well-earned achievement. 

He grew up in Montgomery County, New York, where he was 
born in 182 1. He was a robust boy, stout, large, and active, one of 
a numerous family. There was no luxury in that household. There 
was not much opportunity for education. Like almost every stout 
boy, he found it hard to learn when he did go to school, and it made 
him impatient. He felt his strength, and that if he could not succeed 
in his classes he could do something else, and do it well. Still he 
persevered at school, and finally began to pass all the others. With 
the opening of his mind came restlessness and longing for action, a 
brave readiness to begin at once the struggle of life, even in the hard- 
est fashion. 

He determined to go out to the new world of the prairies. When 
only sixteen years old this big boy left New York, made his way res- 
olutely to wliat was then the far West — and remember this was be- 
fore the time of railroads. It was in 1837 he cauie to the rich region, 
then all wild, of Northeastern Illinois, and began a home in the wil- 
derness, taking his 160 acres of Government land in what is now De 
Kalb County — that De Kalb County to-day so crowded, so prosper- 
ous, so highly cultivated and populous, which he represented in this 
Hall. There he remained, a laborious, faithful, hopeful youth, for 
four years, working on his own land and for the farmers of the neigh- 
borhood; and then he went back to New York. He wanted more 
thorough education, and he went to Cherry Valley Academy, a school 
of excellent repute, where he studied with a stubborn diligence that 
H. Mis. 302 2 



18 LIFE AND CHARACTEl! OF REUBEN ELLWOOD. 

was rewarded. Every step in this late-gained education was appre- 
ciated intensely by him and was a conscious joy. It was to this school 
that he owed much of the facility he always had in clear, forcible ex- 
pression, for though Mr. Ellwood never belonged to any of the talk- 
ing professions, he was an able speaker. 

But business was from the first most attractive to his energetic, prac- 
tical character. He has told me, with quaint humor and lively in- 
terest, how he went into the lumber trade; how he raised and 
manufactured broom-corn at Glenville. He was an active citizen of 
this town ot Glenville for, I think, about eight years, taking a lively 
interest not only in business and neighborhood questions, but in pub- 
lic affairs. Young as he was, he was chosen one of the supervisors 
of the county. He had strong convictions in politics then, as many 
of you personally know he had when he stood with us. At that time 
he was an ardent Whig. His energy of character brought him into 
public notice, and he was chosen a member of the assembly of New 
York in 1850. 

A few years later, at the organization of the Republican party, he 
was one of the first to enlist in the new cause; was an earnest, influ- 
ential advocate of its ideas, and was sent as a delegate to the national 
Republican convention which met at Philadelphia in 1S56 and nom- 
inated John C. Fremont. 

But his heart all the while longed for the land of the prairies; and 
the next year, 1857, he returned to Illinois and fixed his home at 
Sycamore, in that same De Kalb County he had selected twenty 
years before. He went into the hardware business, operated a good 
deal in real estate, and was engaged in busmess of almost every kind 
as opportunity offered to his active, sagacious spirit. He was still 
earnestly interested in politics, and in 1866, in recognition of his 
prominence as a Republican and his character as a thorough and 
high-minded business man, he was appointed assessor of internal rev- 
enue, which was then an important office. In 1868 the Republicans 
of De Kalb County selected him as their candidate for the nomina- 
tion for Congress, ar.d the De Kalb delegation all voted for him. 



ADDRESS OF MR. BITT, OF ILLINOIS. 1 9 

He had been dealing in hardware, and Mr. Ellwood used to tell, 
in his original and striking manner, how in handling agricultural im- 
plements, which he sold in his hardware business, he was led to study 
their methods of construction, their principles, and the improvements 
that suggested themselves to his quick, inventive mind. He saw, too, 
as a business man of comprehensive grasp, what an immense market 
the farming West offered to agricultural implements, and thus he was 
led into invention and manufacturing. As early as 1870 he began, 
and he brought to his new and higher business such judgment, such 
economy of means to ends, shrewd good sense, and pushing energy 
that he was successful from the first, and his success broadened each 
year as he went on. In five years more he began the construction ot 
those extensive shops where the Reuben Ellwood Company has since 
carried on the manufacture of agricultural implements, pouring out a 
great stream of the varied machines which are now well known to 
thousands of our farmers. He was just the man to direct such an 
enterprise ; a good judge of men, vigilant in details, an untiring 
worker himself, with a big brain, strong body, and hopeful spirit — a 
natural leader. 

With all this load of business he never slackened in his interest in 
public affairs. He worked for the cause he believed in and the 
principles he loved. He bore his full share of every burden and per- 
formed his part in the active support of his partv and its cause. 

In 1882 the Republicans chose him as their candidate for Congress 
from the Fifth district of Illinois. Of course he was elected, for there 
is no uncertainty about the voice of De Kalb, Boone, and the neigh- 
boring counties His majority was very handsome — 7,800 — increased 
by the high esteem in which he was personally held. It was during 
that Forty-eighth Congress, beginning in December, 1883, and ending 
last spring, that so many gentlemen who sit around me saw and knew 
Reuben Ellwood — for nearlv two hundred of you were members 
of that Congress. I know you will all bear witness to the fidelity, 
diligence, and mtelligence with which he discharged his duties as a 



20 LIFE AND CHAIiACTER OF HEVHEN ELI. WOOD. 

representative of the people. He brought here the ways of a business 
man— prompt, watchful, keenly measuring the practical value and 
bearing of every measure. He was a good worker in committee, 
where, as we know, the greater part of the work of Congress is done, 
never occupying time with needless words, liaving an opinion of his 
own and a sound, sensible reason for it. He was a thorough Republi- 
can, of long-tried, well considered convictions, believing that his party 
deserved his support, not because of any bigotry or slavishness, but 
because popular governments are ahvays to be governed by great 
])arties if they are to exist at all, and that it is the duty of the citizen, 
having chosen what he believes to be the truth in principle and the 
l)est in party, to stand firmly by his party and his faith. 

He was a regular attendant at the sessions of the House. Even 
the long night sessions, that always come toward the close of a Con- 
gress, did not tire him out, for though he was growing into age, 
almost sixty-four years old, he was the picture of manly vigor, a solid 
man, ripened and turning gray, stout but not yet heavy in movement, 
the light of his eye undiminished. He moved with a strong step, 
and when he spoke it was briefly, in a <iuick powerful voice and right 
to the point, for his ideas were as clear and decided as his tone or his 
tread. 

The routine proceedings of the House, and still more the long de- 
bates, wearied him, and close attendance on the House was a harder 
duty for liini than otliers — more irksome to his nature and activii). 
He grew tired of talk and delay, discussions on points of order, and 
ihe eternally ri.-( urring objections that seemed to prevent anything at 
all from being accomplished. He wanted to act, to dispatch public 
business as he did his own — examine the matter carefully and 
thoroughly, and then decide it. He said, time is w-orlh something to 
somebody else if it is not to those who are taking up so much time. 
To have to sit and listen to a prolonged debate of many days on an old 
subject like the tariff, while he thought of all his own important interests 
requiring his attention a thousand miles away, made him impatient. 



ADDRESS OF MR. HITT, OF ILLINOIS. 21 

He was disgusted and annoyed with post-office strifes and the small- 
beer statesmanship of getting and settling petty appointments. But 
he really loved the essential dutiesof a legislator. He seized the scope 
of a bill quickly and clearly. If it was a new subject to him he went 
to work upon it with all his strength, and he was so strong that he soon 
mastered it. He took delight in the fruitful work of legislation, in 
any saving of public money, in studying how to cure a burdensome 
or faulty law, or prevent an injustice, or carry out a great line of pub- 
lic policy. Although he served but one term in Congress, he had 
already become a practical and efficient legislator, of broad, liberal, 
progressive views. 

In his business he was the same. His mode of adding to his own 
wealth was beneficent to others. There was nothing ignoble or sor- 
did in it. Each machine for planting or cultivating that he made and 
sold multiplied the hands and lengthened and strengthened the arms 
of the farmer who used it. It added to the hours of the day by adding 
to the work which could be accomplished in it. In wisely combining 
simple instruments into new machines, in subduing and applying the 
rude forces of nature, he conferred fresh strength upon all his neigh- 
bors to perform useful labor, created new comfort, and increased the 
general happiness. 

He was without inherited wealth, and fought his way sturdily and 
steadily to competence, to position, to independence, and in doing 
this his productive activity shed blessings upon others at every step. 
His nature was self-reliant and commanding. He was himself a fine 
piece of human machinery, driven by a brave strong spirit, that ground 
every obstacle down before its steadfast power. From the beginning, 
as a boy, to the end of his honorable life he earned and paid his scot. 
If he did not inherit wealth, he was heir to marked family qualities. 
The seven Ellwood brothers are a tribe in Israel, a valiant element in 
De Kalb County ,-a body of prominent families, workers, and leaders, 
honorable and honored for worth and for success. 

There are many hundreds of people living in the district I repre- 



22 LIFE AND CHARACTER OF REVfiEX ELLWOOD. 

sent who knew the face and voice of Reuben Ellwood, and shared 
the great sorrow that pervaded the more eastern counties, where he 
was universally known, when the news spread through the country that 
this noble-hearted man was dead. And there are many of the mem- 
bers of this House who felt a pang of grief that one whom we had 
known and respected and learned to know was worthy of all honor 
had suddenly been called from the labors and joys and honors of earth 
to the life beyond the grave, and that we should see him no more in 
his accustomed seat. 

He has left us the valuable lesson of his career — the example of a 
pure private life, absolute integrity in business, fidelity and etticiency 
as a Representative, and the devotion to principle in all public affairs 
which is found in one who loves and serves his country as a true 
patriot. 



Address of Mr. Peters, of Kansas. 

In December, 1883, at the first meeting of the Forty-eighth Con- 
gress, my acquaintance with Hon. Reuben Ei.i.wood began, .\fier 
the drawing for seats we became neighbors Day by day our ac- 
quaintance grew until it ripened into friendship. Though many years 
mv senior, his cordial and genial manner attracted me to him. and 
ere the session aged I enjoyed his confidence. 

This was an honor and a (.ompliment which I then cherished and 
now fondly recall. I esteem it a ])leasurable duty to speak for and 
of him to-day. 

Time liad wrinkled his face, but not his heart. Filled as this was 
with human sunshine, his daily greeting had a glow and warmth of 
well-wishing that was infectious. Sixty-four years of life had not 
mildewed his disposition. His very presence dispelled gloomy thought 
and scattered troublous apprehension. His large expressive eyes 
were the windows through which the soul within shone with such 
fervor that the plain face was made to appear handsome. 



ADDRESS OF MR. PETERS, OF KANSAS. 23 

He was frank and outspoken, sometimes even to abruptness, but 
so earnest, kind, and sincere that he seldom gave offense. His con- 
science was his own tribunal, and its decrees the rule and guide to 
his action. 

He was nearly always in his seat during the sessions of the House, 
giving personal attention as well as consideration to legislative pro- 
ceedings. 

His strong intellect and large practical experience gave a force to 
his suggestions that impressed instantly. He was not an orator, but 
rather a strong thinker and a logical reasoner. He did not speak 
often in the House, but when he did speak he sought to inform and 
convince his hearers. He spoke to those who were present, and al- 
ways commanded attention. He was an industrious member, very 
methodical in his work, and each day's closing brought rich returns 
to the people of his district, in much of which the general public 
shared. 

His political convictions, like all others entertained by him, were 
very strong. He believed certain political tenets were right, and, 
being honest in this belief, was a partisan. He was an honest poli- 
tician, controlled by conviction and not by policy. The " Mug- 
wumpian" land was to him neutral ground, upon which no honest 
man could stand and preserve his self-respect. He accorded to every 
man the right to differ with him, but his opponent, to secure his re- 
spect, must differ from principle. With him there was no interme- 
diate play-ground between truth and error. The fawning changeling 
for place received and merited his supreme contempt. 

He was very strong in his affections. One day in the House a tel- 
egram was handed him. He opened it somewhat eagerly, because 
he had many anxieties about business affairs at home. After reading 
he handed it to me, and as I took it I noticed the large, expressive 
eyes fill with tears, the lips quiver, and the involuntary sob well up 
from the anguished heart. The message announced the death of his 
favorite grandchild. The richest, strongest evidence of sincere affec- 



24 UFIi AND CHARACTER OF REUBEN ELLWOOD. 

tion was the glistening tear in the eye of this great strong man. No 
greater tribute of love could be given even by the angelic host. 

" Few men get their life-labor accomplished without some sore 
heartaches." This affliction was a severe one, from which he never 
fully rallied. We parted at close of the session, expecting to meet 
here again. One day in mid-summer, while scanning the dispatches 
in the daily papers in my far western home, 1 read of his serious ill- 
ness ; the next day brought news of his death. The grandfather and 
grandchild had reunited in a fairer (lime, where affection's current is 
never broken. 

Personally, I know nothing about his home or the people he so 
well represented in the Forty-eighth t'ongress, but 1 believe home 
and people in his death lost an able, fearless, and upright champion. 

The frequency of death's visits almost familiarizes us with '"the 
pale horse and rider." Like the broad river sweeping on, unmindful 
of the (Irojis of water that are se|)arated from it by the sun's heat or 
the dashing spray, so the current of life's busy stream sweeps on, 
scarce noticing the drops that are separated from it by the summons 
of the '•(■.rim Messenger." There are bitter tears, sorrowing hearts, 
a new-madf grave, but the busy hum of the world does not cease for 
an instant. When some one can step aside from this busy throng 
and say truthfully of him who has been summoned. " He was a man," 
it is a eulogy fit for the king of men. From m\ >hort but intimate 
acquaintance with Reuben Ellwood 1 feel that I can earnestly, fer- 
vently, and truthfully say of him, "He was a man " His life was a 
busy one. He went from New York to Illinois when that jjrairie 
State was yet the far west. He — 

Crosse<l the pnirics .i-s of old 
Our fathers crossed the sea, 
To make the West as they the ICast. 
The home.sle.id of ihe free. 

The early history of the West is the projihecy; the later history is 
tin- luhilinK'nt. The one is hoi)c, tiie other is fruition. The inspira- 



ADDI}ESS OF MR. M'MILLIN, OF TENNESSEE. 25 

tion is of the East — Eastern. The accomphshment is of the West — 
Western. 

The school and the home in New York cleared and planted and 
tilled the youth and early manhood, but Illinois, with her enlarged 
possibilities, ripened and garnered the harvest. After "life's fitful 
fever" his remains rest in the honored soil of his adopted State. 
Her people will guard his memory, and her sons in this House and 
elsewhere accord to his character and life merit and praise more ap- 
propriate than mine. Be it for me to say that I am the better and 
stronger for having known him and that the world is better for his 
having lived in it. 

His work is done. He now fully realizes- — 

After ihe shower llie trani|uil sun; 

After the snow the emerald leaves; 
Silver stars after the day is done; 

After the harvest, golden sheaves. 

After the clouds, the violet sky; 

After the tempest, the hill of waves ; 
Quiet woods, when the winds go by; 

After the the battle, peaceftil graves. 

After the burden, the blissful mead ; 

After the flight the downy nest; 
After the furrow, the waking seed ; 

After the shadowy river, rest. 



Address of Mr. McMillin, of Tennessee. 

Mr. Speaker, it is true that no word we utter here can benefit him 
whose loss we meet to mourn ; but good, and good only, can result 
from recounting the virtues of those who lose life in their country's 
service. 

It was not my fortune to meet Reuben Ellwood till the early part 
of the first session of the Forty-eighth Congress. Those who have 



26 LIFE JXD CHARACTER OF REUBEN EI.I.WOOI). 

had experience here 1 think will agree with me that the House of 
Representatives does not afford the best opportunities for thorough 
acquaintance with members in a short time. The duties are so great 
and so incessant, that in the rush of the session and the hurry of busi- 
ness we have to get acquainted as we can, not as we would. 

But my acquaintance with the deceased was very intimate and ex- 
ceedingly pleasant. It began by both being placed on the same com- 
mittee. I remember the day it began with great pleasure ; the day 
death ended it with much pain. Our first interview 1 remember dis- 
tinctly. He had been detained at home some days after the an- 
nouncement of committees of the House, so he could not attend the 
first meeting of the committee. On his return he came to my seat 
in the House, introduced himself to me, saying he observed 1 was 
chairman of his committee, explained the cause of his absence, and 
avow^ed his purpose to miss no meetings. How well he kept that 
resolution the records of the Claims Committee bear most honorable 
testimony. He had referred to him more than fifty bills, and hence 
I know whereof I speak when I say he was ever vigilant and efficient. 

In the discharge of duty he knew no fagging, no friend, no foe. In 
its discharge he was not moved by passion nor swayed by prejudice. 
He had strong political convictions, but never allowed them to con- 
trol him in the committee-room. Indeed, after two years of intimate 
association, where we met almost daily, I do not remember a single 
action in committee by which any opinion could be formcil of his 
political faith. I have said he had strong jjolitical convictions. Yes ; 
he believed that no greater calamity could overtake our people than 
for them to become too ignorant to have opinions concerning their 
government or too cowardly to avow them. But it is also true that 
he had a heart big enough to love every lover of his country, and had 
patriotism enough to condemn every man who was an enemy to his 
country's institutions. 

What an encouragement is his life to the destitute, uneducated youth ! 
Born of poor parents, he was cast upon his own resources at an early 
age. When, in 1837, he left his New York home, sixteen years old, 



ADDRESS OF MR. MMILLIN, OF TENXESSEE. 27 

and took up his line of March (or De Kalb County, Illinois, he had 
nothing but robust health, strong will, untiring industry, and high in- 
tegrity. But combine these, and the fortunate possessor is sufficiently 
armed and equipped for the battle of life in our heaven-favored coun 
try, and tan no more fail under our free institutions than the planet 
can fail to keep its orbit. From this combination we have derived 
our Jacksons, our Clays, and our Websters. So marked has been 
the progress of men struggling against poverty that it would seem 
that man, like the kite, rises against the wind, not with it. 

Adversity tries the man as heat tries the metal, and only proves the 
sternness of the stuff of which he is made. From the beginning of 
his career he had the intelligence to form opinions tor himself and the 
manliness to express them. But while firm in his own convictions, 
he was deferential to the opinions of others. He demanded no cring- 
ing from others nor yielded it to others. After he had battled 
against adversity for four years, and about the time he attained his 
majority, he concluded he must have additional educational attain- 
ments. So, returning to New York, he entered Cherry Valley Acad- 
emy, and began the course of study which was of so much service 
to him in after years. This step was indicative of the spirit that 
always characterized him. 

It is hard enough for us to confess ignorance at all times ; but it 
requires more moral courage than most men have after four years 
have been spent in the active pursuits of successful business life to 
go back to the school-room almost entirely unlettered and take a 
place at the foot of classes composed of those who are years younger 
than we. This young Ellwood had the courage to do, and it was 
indicative of that spirit which enabled him to overcome the obstacles 
of life. 

When thirty years old he made his first political venture, and was 
elected a representative to the New York assembly as a Whig. 

I will leave to others who knew him earlier the ofiice of giving 
step by step the different periods of his life. It is sufficient for me 
to say that, whether we trace Reuben Ellwood through the trials 



28 lAFE AM) CHAKACrEI! OF REUBEN EI.LIVOOD. 

of youth, the struggles of" young manliood, the eminent success of 
mature age, or the last great triumph of his lite, wlien one hundred 
and sixty-five thousand people called him to serve them in the Con- 
gress of the great Republic, he is the same honorable, high-toned man. 
In every field of labor, in every walk of life, he inquired only where 
the path of duty lay, and followed it whether it led to his personal 
loss or gain. In the home circle he had all the gentleness and ten- 
derness necessary to make those around him happy. At the same 
time he had all the strength and sternness required to meet and move 
men in the aflairs of life. 

After a life full of activity and success the day approached when 
his struggles were to end and iiis successes cease The ist day of 
July came and found him surrounded by faithful friends and anxious 
loved ones, but beyond their power to give him relief. He knew his 
end was nigh, and faced it, as he had life, with firm resignation. His 
last words were, " It is all right ; it is all right." The " golden bowl" 
of his terrestrial existence was broken and the " silver cord " that 
bound Reuben Ellwood to this life was "loosed." His lamilylost 
its chief stay, society a most worthy member, and his country a pat- 
riot. This consolation is left to all, that he belongs to that class of 
whom it may be truly said : 

Xor wreck, nor change, nor winter's blight, 

Nor death's remorseless doom, 
Shall dim one ray of holy light 

That gilds their glorious tomb. 



Address of Mr. Dunham, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker, my acquaintance with Reuben Ellwood commenced 
a few days before the assembling of the Forty-eighth Congress. Oc- 
cujjying almost adjoining seats, and representing the district nearly 
bordering upon my own in the State of Illinois, 1 was often thrown 



ADDBESS OF MR. DUNHAM, OF ILLINOIS. 29 

into his company. I would be unwilling to let this occasion pass 
without offering my tribute to the memory of a man that I learned 
to like so well. Full of zeal in his work, active in behalf of his con- 
stituents, faithful to his duties, he was in my judgment a useful and 
efficient member of this House. Personally I admired the man. His 
frequent reference to his family and his home, and his often-expressed 
wish that the days might rapidly pass so that he could once more 
join the "loved ones," plainly proved his excellent qualities of head 
and heart. 

Never shall I forget the evidence of great grief displayed when a 
telegram was handed him, while in the midst of his duties here, an- 
nouncing the death of his little grandson. While the eyes filled with 
tears and the great frame shook with emotion, the heart almost broken, 
and the fact that he was unable to be present at the funeral adding 
to his sorrow, still, with the resignation of a true Christian, he said to 
us, "Hard it is; but he is in a happier world than this." The con- 
tinued and repeated evidences of good-will and affection of the people 
among whom he lived and whom he represented in the Congress of 
the United States plainly demonstrated their confidence. We knew 
him but a few months, yet long enough to heartily indorse all that his 
home friends and neighbors might say for him. 

Greater .statesmen may have come upon the stage of life than our 
friend, men whose names may live longer in history than Reubf.n 
Ellwood, yet none have been more faithful in the work given them 
to do. 

The reputation of a man in the immediate locality of his own home 
is more precious than honors that may be ascribed by the outside 
world. Our friend in an eminent degree gained and kept the affec- 
tion of his own fellow-citizens. His work is done; his labors are 
ended. He lives again. He now enters upon that real life which 
shall have no end. 



30 JJVK ASD CHARACTER OF RKUBEX ELinOOD. 



Address of Mr. Adams, of Illinois. 

Mr. Speaker, iny respect for Mr Ellwood's character is so pro- 
found, my relations with him during the Forty-eighth Congress were 
so cordial and intimate, that 1 cannot forbear the attempt to add one 
more tribute to his niemor\-. 

His district adjoined mine. We had many interests in common. 
As the first session of the last Congress went on I came to understand 
and respect him more and more, not only as I met him here on the 
floor of the House, but elsewhere. We frequently walked home from 
the Capitol together at the close of the day's session. On these oc- 
casions he would sometimes open his heart to me, and I could see 
how his simple, strong, home-loving nature was aflected by the hurry 
and excitement of life in Washington. I do not think Mr. Ellwood 
enjoyed Congressional life, save as he enjoyed the consciousness of 
serving with all his might a constituency for which he entertained a 
sincere and profound respect. 

I remember he told me one afternoon toward the end of the long 
session that lie had no desire to remain in Congress. He felt him- 
self unfitted for the place. As for debate on the floor, he told me 
that he often had a desire to join it, but had always been held back 
by a distrust in his ability to hold the attention of the House. .\s 
for the routine duties which consume so much of the time and strength 
and vitality of a member of Congress, his feeble health rendered them 
peculiarly irksome. Yet he performed them with scrupulous and 
painstaking regularity to the very utmost of his physical ability. It 
was his dut)-, and that was enough. 

Notwithstanding his indiflerence to ]iohtical distinction, he did 
earnestly desire to be returned to Congress for a second term. He 
simply wanted his constituents to say that he had served them well. 
.\fter that term he would go back to his quiet, regular 'home life, and 
among the people who had given him repeated testimonials of their 



ADDIiJCSS OF MB. ADAMS, OF ILLINOIS. 31 

confidence and esteem he looked forward to spending in comfort and 
honor and congenial occupation the declining years of his life. 

In supposing that he was unfitted for debate on the floor of the 
House Mr. Ellwood greatly underrated his own powers. My col- 
league has told us how on one occasion he broke through his habitual 
reserve, and by a sudden burst of eloquence bore down all opposi- 
tion and carried a political convention by storm. 

We, too, who knew him in the Forty-eighth Congress well remem- 
ber one occasion, two years ago, when Mr ELLv^foOD, who till then 
had never addressed the House, felt that the interests of his constit- 
uents were at stake and that he must take the floor. He did so, 
and the House, wearied as it was by a long debate, was at once 
stilled into respectful silence by his magnificent voice and by the 
clear, terse English in which his ideas were expressed. 

Not the least useful among members surely is he who speaks thor- 
oughly well when he has something definite to say, and is content to 
be silent on all other occasions. 

We have heard from the chairman of his committee how faithful 
his service was, how decided his convictions, how free his charity for 
the convictions of others. 

There are some men whose toleration of other men's opinions is 
due to the lack of strong opinions of their own. There are other men 
whose strong convictions make them purblind even to the honesty 
of those whose convictions do not accord with their own. In neither 
class could Mr. Ellwood find a place. He was a friend of the 
people, but he did not claim lo be the only friend the people had. 
Above the reach of suspicion himself, it did not occur to him to sus- 
pect the integrity of others merely because they differed with him on 
some public question. He willingly gave credit even to those whose 
political theories he condemned for possessing motives as disinterested 
as his own. 

That is tht' true frame of mind and feeling for an American legis- 
lator. We represent a country so vast, so diversified in its material 
interests, so varied in the habits of life and thought which iirevail 



32 LIFE .lyD CHAIiACTEI! OF REVHEX ELLWOOI). 

among its people, that we cannot expect to truly express the senti- 
ment of the nation unless we can deliberate together with malice 
toward none and with charity to all. 

Those who cannot understand how the jjolicy of a great nation 
can be wisely and safely guided without the aid of professional states- 
men of long experience in public aflfairs, but solely by the sterling 
integrity and clear judgment of representative men who exjjress here 
in the National Legislature the virtue and intelligence and public 
spirit of their Congressional districts, may learn something from the 
brief, laborious, conscientious public career of Reuben Ellwood. 

The resolutions were unanimously adopted ; and accordingly the 
House adjourned. 



PROCEEDINCxS IN THE SENATE. 



In the Senate of the United States, 

January 28, 1886. 

A message from the House of Representatives, by Mr. T. O. 
TowLES, its Chief Clerk, transmitted to the Senate the resolutions 
adopted by the House on the death of Hon. Reuben Ellwood, 
late a member of that body from the State of Illinois. 

Mr. Vest. Mr. President 

Mr. CuLLOM. I ask the honorable Senator from Missouri to yield 
to me that I may call up resolutions which have come from the House 
of Representatives to-day in relation to the death of one of my col- 
leagues in that body. 

The President pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri having 
the floor on the pending bill, the Senator from lUinois asks for the 
consideration of resolutions from the House of Representatives. 

Mr. CuLLOM. Let the resolutions be read. 

The President /r(7 tempore. They will be read. 

'I'he Chief Clerk read as follows : 

In the House of Representatives, 

Jamtary 28, 1886. 

Resolved, That this House has heard with profound sorrow of the death of Hon. 
Reuben Ellwood, late a member of this House from the State of Illinois. 

Resolved, That a copy of these resolutions be transmitted by the Clerk of this 
House to the family of the deceased. 

Resolved, That the Clerk be directed to communicate a copy of these proceed- 
ings to the Senate. 

Resolved, That as a furtlier mark of respect to the memory of the deceased this 
House do now adjourn. 

3;i 
H. Mis. 302 



34 LIFE J.\l) ClIAUACTER OF REUBEN ELLIVOOD. 



Address of Mr. CuLLOM, of Illinois. 

Mr. President, on day before yesterday this honorable Senate put 
aside its ordinary legislative duties to spend a brief time in paying a 
just tribute of respect to the memory of Thomas A. Hendricks, late 
Vice-President of the United States, who but recently presided over 
the deliberations of this body. 

To-day I ask the Senate to i)ause for a little time while a few weak 
words may be spoken of the life and character of the late Reuisen 
Ellwood, who at the time of his death was an honored member of 
the other branch of this Congress. Mr. Ellwood was perhaps less 
known to fame than some others of the dead and living who have 
served the country, but there have been none more worthy of honor 
as a citizen and patriot. 

Reuben Ellwood died at his house in Sycamore, in Illinois, on 
the ist day of July, 1885, surrounded by his loving family and friends. 
The story of his life and career is not an unusual one in this land 
of free institutions, where success and honorable position depend u|)on 
jjcrsonal merit rather than upon the adventitious circumstances of 
birth and fortune, but it is instructive and will bear repetition. 

He was born in the State of New York, in Minden, Montgomery 
County, February 17, 1821, and was in his si.\ty-fifth year at the time 
of his death. It was my good fortune, Mr. President, to know Mr. 
Ellwood well for several years before his first election to the House 
of Representatives of the Forty-eighth Congress in 1882; and, sir, 
the more I saw and knew of him tlie stronger became my attach- 
ment for him. In many respects lie was a remarkable man, full of 
energy, determined in purpose, unswerving in carrying out his convic- 
tions of duty, full of love for his country and its free institutions, Ibnd 
of business, with a large capacity for commercial affairs, and, with all 
these qualities, possessing a heart which beat in harmony with the 
heart of the working people of America, and which made him es]ie- 



ADDRESS OF MI!. CULLOM, OF ILLINOIS. 35 

cially kind to those with whom he labored and upon whom he de- 
pended for business success. 

He was a man of power in head and heart and hand. Being 
such, he was the recognized leader in his county in business, in poli- 
tics, and, whenever occasion demanded, action by the people. From 
boyhood he was of robust physique, active and vigorous, and in- 
spired with that necessary element of ambition which is requisite 
to press men to the front in the discharge of important duty. 

At the early age of sixteen the young lad determined to carve out 
his own fortune, and left his home and took up his abode in the 
county in Illinois in which he resided at the time of his death. He 
entered 160 acres of land, and tor several years hired by the month 
to farmers in the neighborhood until his health failed him, when he 
was forced to return to the home of his parents in New York. Be- 
coming satisfied from his brief contact with the outside world that he 
needed a better educational training than he had received, the young 
man entered a seminary near his early home, and, as a student, mani- 
fested a determination to better quahfy himself for the struggle of 
life. After leaving school he resolved to devote himself to a business 
career. To get a start he engaged in agricultural pursuit.s, and fol- 
lowed that occupation for several years until he was able to become 
also a manufacturer. In 1857 he returned to Illinois and engaged in 
business pursuits, and in 1870 he began the manufacture of agricultural 
implements in his own town, an occupation in which he continued 
until his death. By his energy, enterprise, and capacity for affairs he 
was enabled to build up a large business. He constructed extensive 
buildings and gave employment to many men, and his manufactur 
ing woiks were considered of great value and importance to the pub- 
lic in his section of the State. 

Mr. Ellwood was a man of positive convictions, and was there- 
fore a strong partisan. He believed with all his soul that the polit- 
ical organization to which he belonged was in the right, and never 
shrank from defending it and its principles with force and candor and 
with such enthusiasm as to produce lasting impressions. His interest 



36 LJFE AND CHARACTER OF REVBES ELLWOOD. 

in public affairs led him into political campaigns, and finally into the 
General Assembly of the State of New York, even before he left that 
State as a young man. He was a Republican by nature. He hated 
oppression and slavery and loved liberty. He was fully identified 
with the party of free soil, and was a delegate to its national conven- 
tion which nominated Fremont in 1856. He was intensely interested 
and anxious for his country in the late great struggle in which the in- 
tegrity of the Union and the freedom of the slave were involved, and 
was always active in every movement for the public good, believing 
in and acting upon the principle that he does best for himself who 
does best for his fellow-citizens. 

In 1868 Mr. Ellvvood was the unanimous choice of his county 
for Representative in Congress. In i88j he was the choice of his 
district, and was elected by about 8.000 majority over his opponent 
In 1884 he was the unanimous choice of his party, being renominated 
without a dissenting voice in town caucus, in county conventions, or 
in the Congressional convention, and was re-elected by more than 
1 1,000 majority. He had the entire confidence of the people of his 
district, and represented them with ability and fidelity. He served 
on important committees and performed his official work with signal 
devotion to duty and with an eye single to the best interests of the 
whole people. Before entering Congress \\p held various offices of 
l)ublic trust at the hands of his friends at home and from the national 
administration, and no man could say that he did not discharge his 
duties honestly and ably in whatever position he held. 

In his domestic relations Mr. Ellwood's life was especially worthy 
of commendation and emulation, and pleasantly illustrates the strength 
of his character. He was not only all that a husband and father should 
be, but was also the trusted leader and chosen adviser of his five 
brothers, all of whom resided near him. By his wise counsel and 
strong personal influence this large family was always united and was 
enabled to make its power felt in all business and public affairs. Of 
tl^ese six stalwart men he, the acknowledged head, wa.s the first to 
pass to his reward. 



ADDRESS OF HE. CVLLOH. OF ILLINOIS. 37 

Such, Mr. President, are some of the prominent facts connected 
with the career of the late Reuben Ellwood. The last time, sir, that 
it was my privilege to look him in the face and take him by the hand 
was when he came into this Chamber one day last spring with a tele 
gram in his hand. With tears coursing down his face and with quiv- 
ering lips he told me the contents of the telegram — that his grandson 
was dead and he must go home — and asked me to take care of certain 
measures in which his constituents were interested. The little boy 
who had suddenly sickened and died had become as one of his own 
family, and he had set his heart on educating the lad and giving him 
every opportunity for an honorable career. Death swept away all 
his plans and took the boy he loved so well to his long home. Con- 
gress soon adjourned and Mr. Ellwood did not return. It was not 
long until he, too, strong and robust as he seemed to be, was stricken 
down, and soon the news was spread that Reuben Ellwood was 
dead. 

Conscious and brave to the last moment, his last words were uttered 
in an effort to cheer his weeping family, saying to them, "It is all 
right," and in a moment closing his eyes in death. His death, Mr. 
President, was a great loss to the State which he in part represented 
in the other branch of Congress and to the whole country. It was 
most keenly felt in his home district, where he was best known. He 
was a good citizen, an honest man, and a pure patriot. What more 
need be said of any man? While he was often called to places of 
honor and trust, yet he was distinctively a man of business. Few 
public men can combine public service and private business in such 
a manner as to serve the public faithfully and well and at the same 
time carry on private business successfully. Yet this Mr. Ellwood 
w-as able to do. He was a producer, and added to the comfort and 
wealth of the country. The man who does something that lightens 
the burdens of the laboring man or woman, who contributes to the 
comfort of his fellows, and at the same time adds to the wealth of his 
country, is a benefactor, and is entitled to higher consideration than 
is the man who lives alone upon the toil and sweat of his fellow-men. 



38 LIFF^ -J-V/' (IIARACTICR OF HECBEN EI.LWOOD. 

With Mr. Ellwood labor was a delight, and necessary in his opinion 
to an honorable life. He recognized no, rank among men except 
upon the basis of integrity, intelligence, and industry. In the estima 
tion of Mr. Ellwood, the man who toiled for his day's \vages, who 
earned his bread by the sweat of his face, and lived an upright and 
sober life, carried the stamp of manhood upon his brow and was the 
pfer of any other citizen. He believed in work — that every man 
should have something to do, and do it to the best of his ability 
He had no respect for the idler — the man who could but would not 
work. 

But, Mr. President, 1 will not speak longer. Rkuben Ellwood 
sleeps in the silent tomb, in sight of the home where he left a beloved 
wife overwhelmed with grief and sons and daughters sorrowing for 
their departed father. Sad dispensations come almost daily to remind 
us that our time at most is short, and that the grave is the resting 
place of all. I know of no better standpoint from which to witness 
and realize more fully the rapid march of men to the tomb than from 
a seat in tliis Senate. But a few hundred men represent the legisla 
tive branch of the National Government, and yet no winter passes by 
in which we are not called upon to pause from our daily work to an 
nounce the death of some honorable member of one or the other 
House. It seems to be almost certain that some one or more of 
those composing the Congress of the United States must in every 
year pass away. This fact is an admonition to each one of us to "be 
ye also ready." 

Mr. President, I move the adojjtion of the following resolutions, 
which I now offer: 

Resolved, Th.it llic .Senate receives with ileep sensibility the announcemcnl of 
the death of Hon. Kkuuen Ellwood, late a member of the House of Representa 
lives from the State of Illinois, and tenders to the family and relative.'; of the dc 
ceased the assurance of its sympathy in their bereavement. 

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate be directed to transmit to Ihc family 
of Mr. Ellwooii a copy of the foregoing resolution. 

Resolved, That, a.s a further mark of respect for the memory of the deceased, the 
.Senate do now adjourn. 



ADDRESS OF MR. LOGAN, OF ILLINOIS. 39 



Address of Mr. Logan, of Illinois. 

Mr. President, it is fitting that I should add a word to what has 
been so well said by my colleague in reference to our associate in the 
other House who has passed away, Reuben Ellwood. In a word, 
sir, I can say that he was a man for the position for which his con- 
stituents selected him, well qualified and equipped in every respect. 
He was a man honored among his neighbors and respected wherever 
he was known. He was recognized as a man of great energy, a man 
of great strength of intellect, a man of business qualifications, a man 
who amassed a fortune by his own efforts and his own industry. He 
was a charitable man withal. All of his neighbors are witnesses to 
his kindness, his generosity, and his great charity to those who were 
suffering and in distress. 

He left the Congress of the United States at its adjournment last 
spring in good health. He sickened and died at home. He is mourned 
by all who know him. In the death of Reuben Ellwood his dis- 
trict and the State of Illinois lost an able and an efficient representa- 
tive of the interests of that district and State. 

Sir, these things, occurring so frequently as they do, as was well 
said, ought to remind us that in the midst of life we are in death, and 
that we are all moving to that "undiscovered country from whose 
bourn no traveler returns; " and the only hope is that in passing fiom 
this life we may receive that which is considered a great reward for 
those who perform their duties toward man and God here on earth. 

The President /ri? tempore. The question is on agreeing to the 
resolutions of the Senator from Illinois [Mr. Cullom]. 

The resolutions were unanimously agreed to; and the Senate ad- 
journed. 

C 



'iu/ 



